Criminal Defense Lawyer in Tempe, AZ

Two names on your paperwork tell you most of what you need: the police agency that wrote the report and the office that is prosecuting the charge. Put those side by side and a Tempe case usually falls into one of four tracks, each with its own building and its own pace.

Track one: Tempe Municipal Court. The court sits at 140 E. Fifth Street in downtown Tempe (its own pages also give Suite 200) and keeps weekday hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its criminal docket is misdemeanor and criminal traffic matters from within city limits. The prosecutor across the aisle comes from the Criminal Division of the Tempe City Attorney's Office, upstairs in Suite 301 of the same address, which handles misdemeanors charged under Arizona statutes and the Tempe City Code, DUI included.

Track two: a county justice court. Tempe Police are not the only officers working inside the city. When a DPS trooper or a Sheriff's deputy did the investigating, a Maricopa County justice court can receive the misdemeanor in place of the city court. The location of the incident picks the justice court, so rely on the court named on the citation or summons.

Track three: a state felony. Tempe's city prosecutors stop at misdemeanors. Most Tempe felonies belong to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. Certain others go to the Arizona Attorney General's Office, often because the alleged conduct reached across county lines, because a state agency ran the investigation, or because the county attorney sent the matter over. An indictment by a grand jury, or a finding at a preliminary hearing, then moves the case into Maricopa County Superior Court, which hears it in one of two downtown buildings: the Central Court Building, 201 W. Jefferson St., or the South Court Tower, 175 W. Madison St. Confirm the building on your current notice. No justice court stop comes first for a felony in this county.

Track four: a federal case. Paperwork captioned "United States of America v." or naming a federal agency means the U.S. Attorney's Office is prosecuting, whatever Tempe street the conduct is tied to. Nova Law Group appears in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. We handle these matters whichever office brought the charge.

If you were booked. The Tempe Police department directory lists its own Detention Facility (480-350-8569). Whoever has custody, Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 4.1 sets a 24-hour limit from arrest to the initial appearance, or the person must go free. Someone jailed by the county on a felony charge sees that first judge at the Intake, Transfer and Release facility, 2670 S. 28th Dr., Phoenix; the Superior Court lists it as open around the clock and as the point where county jail releases are processed. That judge decides on release, bond and conditions.

When no one is arrested. Two starts are common. The officer can write a complaint or citation on the spot, and Tempe Municipal Court treats the appearance date printed on it as your arraignment date. Or the officer can submit a report so a prosecutor can decide later whether to charge anything. If you were released with a release order, the court date is printed there. A quiet month with no paperwork usually means a charging decision is still pending, and that stretch is often when a lawyer can do the most.

The right to a lawyer depends on the track. On a felony the right to counsel attaches, so if you have not hired one by your first court date the court will appoint a lawyer for you. Misdemeanor court is different. Arizona Rule of Criminal Procedure 6.1(b) entitles an indigent defendant to appointed counsel in a proceeding that may result in punishment by loss of liberty. But in misdemeanor court the prosecutor can avow that no jail will be requested and the judge can rule that no jail will be imposed, and once that happens, there is no right to appointed counsel at all. Arizona's Court of Appeals upheld exactly that in Campa v. Fleming, 134 Ariz. 330 (App. 1982).

Avoiding jail is not the same as avoiding a conviction. Depending on the charge and your situation, a Tempe misdemeanor conviction can come back in a background check, a professional or student conduct review, a fingerprint clearance application, a firearm question or an immigration matter. In Campa, the defendant's probation status and deportation exposure did not entitle him to appointed counsel. That is the practical reason to have your own lawyer reading the evidence before you weigh any offer.

The city also runs its own alternatives. Tempe Municipal Court notes that the City Prosecutor's Office runs programs that can take the place of a trial on certain offenses, with the details explained at arraignment. Tempe Community Supervision, on the second floor at 3500 S. Rural Road, describes itself as administering the City's diversion, probation and home detention programs, with eligible people referred by the court or the Prosecutor's Office after arrests for misdemeanor charges. Whether a given charge qualifies is the prosecutor's decision.

Gathering the evidence. A police narrative is one officer's summary. Body-worn and in-car video, 911 audio, doorbell and business cameras, rideshare records and phone video often add what the narrative leaves out. Private systems overwrite on their own schedules, so we send requests early, and we ask about anything recorded after the arrest as well.

Reading the charge. The complaint or citation, not the release paperwork, says what was charged, under which statute and in which court. A felony changes nearly everything: the prosecuting office, the courthouse, the procedural rules and the sentencing range. The first charge is also not always the last. A report Tempe handled as a misdemeanor can be sent on to the County Attorney, who may charge a felony.

The city court calendar. After the arraignment, a Tempe misdemeanor generally moves to a pretrial conference, the setting where the defense and the prosecutor discuss whether the case can be resolved. The court offers some pretrial conferences virtually, and its virtual court page asks the defendant or attorney to contact the State at least five business days ahead by emailing a full name and case number to [email protected]. The same page warns that failing to appear for a pretrial conference, remotely or in person, may result in an arrest warrant and loss of posted bail. Defense counsel may waive a client's presence at a virtual pretrial conference when the parties have conferred and no resolution is expected at that setting.

Getting the State's evidence. The Tempe Prosecutor's Office takes discovery requests through a form on its website, and the Police Records Section at 120 E. Fifth Street handles public records. With a lawyer on the case, those requests come from counsel, and the material can be matched against what the officers wrote.

Checking the record. Tempe Municipal Court publishes a case lookup at courtcaseinfo.tempe.gov and takes court records requests online. It also notes that, under an Arizona Supreme Court rule, criminal records more than ten years old may no longer be available, which matters when an old Tempe case becomes a prior.

The felony track. Once indicted or held to answer at a preliminary hearing, a Tempe felony moves downtown, and the building and courtroom appear on your current notice. The County Attorney publishes a list of diversion programs and says a deputy county attorney evaluates each case for offense eligibility and offender suitability; its felony program says participants who finish can have filed charges dismissed. Whether any program is offered is the prosecutor's call.

Telling your side. Your account matters. Once a lawyer has seen the reports and the recordings, your explanation can be offered in a form that answers the evidence the State actually has. A statement given on a doorstep before anyone has watched the video is hard to walk back.

Cases that overlap. One night in Tempe can produce more than one case. A traffic stop near Mill Avenue can add a drug count to a DUI. A family dispute can lead to both a criminal complaint and a protective order hearing. Someone already on probation can face a revocation petition alongside the new charge. Every one of those keeps its own schedule.

Nova Law Group was built by Ryan Tait, a former Maricopa County Attorney's Office felony prosecutor. The practice is criminal defense first. We keep caseloads deliberately low, which means the lawyers on your case have time to actually watch the video and read the reports line by line. We take cases to trial when trial is the right pressure. Overcharging happens, and a case that is genuinely prepared for trial changes the conversation with the prosecutor. Most criminal cases are quoted as a flat fee. Consultations are free and confidential.

Office: 4455 E. Camelback Rd., Suite C250, Phoenix, AZ 85018. It is our only office, and Tempe clients meet with us there by appointment.